Antique Ally Sloper Half Holiday Pocket Watch

An antique Ally Soper Half Holiday pocket watch.

Ally Sloper's Half Holiday was a British comic, first published on 3 May 1884. It is believed to be the first comic magazine named after and featuring a regular character. The star of the comic was Ally Sloper, a blustery, lazy schemer often found sloping through alleys to avoid his landlord and other creditors. The 'Half Holiday' referred to the Victorian practice of allowing the workers home at lunchtime on a Saturday.

The watch has a stem-winding movement which is ticking away and the time keeping is good to within around ten minutes over 24 hours. The movement is protected by an inner dust cover with the engraving, 'Ally Slopers Half Holiday'.

The watch measures 47mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The back of the case has an image of Ally Sloper with 'A Sloper FOM' (Friend of Man). There are a couple of small indentations to the back but overall the condition is good for an antique piece. The watch glass is in good order.

The white dial is in good condition too with blued steel hands (initially set by way of the pin set mechanism), a subsidiary seconds dial and an outer minute track.

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All of our watches are checked over before listing, and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch.

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